Sophie was born, with five
brothers, at the end of April 2002 and they all spent about
two weeks with their eyes shut. When Sophie opened her eyes, we
found that she had glaucoma in her right eye and was blind. Which
was a blessing in disguise, because we had already promised her
to someone and we kept her instead. A good decision!

Mum and daughter have always liked playing
together...

Sophie didn't start walking seriously in the
Lakes until early 2003. Here she is with Mum, waiting as usual
for the humans trailing behind, on Catbells.

and at the top, once we caught up with both of
them.

Playing with Samba on the shores of
Derwentwater.

With Joanna in Barrow Beck just above the
village.

An essential feature of any walk through
Newlands is a swim just here in the beck. Samba loves swimming,
Sophie is getting the hang of it but does not have the same
enthusiasm as Mum.

This is another favourite, Stonycroft Gill
beck, which has some great pools. The third dog is Tilly, who
often used to come walking with us, until anno domini caught
up with her - she is about 5 years older than Samba.

Sophie is still young and foolish enough to
respond to calls from many hundreds of feet above her, as in this
picture on Dale Head. Samba gave up on this some years ago...

A brown study...

A smile this time!

Who says I don't like swimming?

This is with the young master, on the top of
Walla Crag.

Walla Crag is a TOP place for all of us...

and this is further along the same walk,
towards Ashness.

we come back from Ashness via the lake, of
course...

A picture of utter contentment: Samba gnawing
her piece of wood after a dip in the lake...

Now we come to the episode of
the bumptious
sheep...

Here we all were, on our walk to Castlerigg and
then across to Low Rigg

when they appeared: three or four young sheep,
not at all apprehensive of the dogs, in fact quite the opposite

Samba and Sophie normally just stop when sheep
appear on the path ahead, wait for the humans to catch up and then
walk at heel until we are past the sheep - who normally scatter
away from the path we are taking. Not these ones!

.

Samba: "Was this in the script...?"

Sophie: "Can we go now, please...?
Quickly?!"

Samba in one of her (and my) favourite places:
Hause Gate, looking out over Derwentwater towards Blencathra.

Samba and Sophie after a rather muddy walk
across to Castlerigg Circle, where they were waiting patiently
for me to try and get some pictures of the circle without any
humans - difficult in mid-afternoon at any time of the year. This
picture came out best of all...

The dogs are old hands at snow by now, but this
was special - Christmas Day!

Tim tells a good joke, you know...

Sitting down after the pant up Bleaberry Fell.

Back to a favourite place again, with the
family.

Sophie looking very pleased with herself,
having swum a few yards rather than just splashed around...

Just below Stockley Bridge, on the way to
Styhead Tarn, is a pool made for dogs...

At Calf Close Bay, some things never change...

Actually, something has changed - Sophie's bad
eye (the right one) has much reduced in size, as you probably can
see from this picture, and most people are surprised to hear that
she cannot see from it...

Sophie, looking happy as usual, on the top of
Latrigg

Samba and Sophie on top of favourite
fell no. 1: Outerside.

Synchronised wriggling! We never
pass this spot in Coledale without a good wallow...

A
triumph for
the First Team: the dogs posing near the bottom of Helm Crag, in front
of an almost vertical ladder stile, which they had hopped over without
any problem. These stiles are certainly not built for dogs,
and I
live in continual fear of a catastrophe. Part of the problem
is
that they reach the stile about a hundred yards ahead of me, so I am in
no position to help them. They charge over, and wait
nonchalantly
on the other side. But one time the waiting Samba had blood
on
her mouth, and there was a great smear of mud on her shoulder, so she
is not infallible. And they don't seem to slow down much,
either...

This was one of the windiest days I had ever
experienced, and Sophie certainly agrees. I had to take this
picture sitting down, and Sophie was getting blown away...